By Paul Gable
Tina Hardee is seeking election to the position of Horry County Auditor in order to provide better service by the office to citizens of the county.
Hardee is one of two candidates on the ballot for Auditor in next Tuesday’s Republican Primary election. The winner of the primary will effectively become the next elected Auditor as no Democratic candidates have filed for the office.
An 18 year veteran of service in the Horry County Treasurer’s Office, Hardee is extremely familiar with the necessity of close coordination between the Auditor, Treasurer and Assessor offices for better service.
“The workflow together needs to be better,” said Hardee. “Anything we can do to make it easier for the taxpayers should be done.”
One initiative Hardee would immediately undertake are the use of a drive thru at a former bank building in the proximity of the county offices, now owned by the county, to establish drive thru convenience for citizens in registering a newly owned vehicle. There would be one employee from the Auditor’s Office to prepare the tax bill and one employee from the Treasurer’s Office to collect the tax in the drive thru facilities.
A second initiative would be to reimplement online vehicle registration services, which were available under former Auditor Lois Eargle but have been discontinued since she left office.
“It would eliminate standing in line at our offices for those who want the convenience,” said Hardee.
Hardee also has a plan to eliminate standing in line for disabled veterans and other citizens with disabilities which would include receiving license plate stickers from the DMV by mail.
Two other initiatives of the Earle era, basically ended currently, would be the checking of license plates at school drop off points and at recycling convenience centers to ensure those using Horry County facilities are paying required taxes to Horry County.
Hardee said she also has plans to cut down the registration of vehicles by illegal immigrants through more intensive documentation of approved forms of identification and proof of residence.
“I have checked with the appropriate agencies to make sure the changes I am proposing were things that could be done without obstacles,” Hardee said. “It is my goal to make our services easier to use, more efficient for our staff and more accessible for citizens.”
In person voting for the primary will be from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday June 11, 2024, at the precinct in which voters are registered.
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